This is both my personal learning project and my contribution in the struggle to confront the ongoing Republican/ libertarian assault on rational science and constructive learning, as manifested in their malicious strategic Attacks on Science ~ A collection of articles, scientific resources, plus my own essays and indepth critique of various presentations from unidirectional-skeptics ~ Hopefully a resource for the busy, yet discerning, student who's concerned about the health of our Earth

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Quoting SPPI and Lord Monckton:"Below are the 35 errors pointed out by the SPPI article, with my short summary of the actual truths behind each dishonest fib. See the full explanations at 'ScienceandPublicPolicyorg/monckton/goreerrors.'"

However, I will demonstrate that SPPI and their Lord are in fact the malicious liars who politicized the science in order to confuse and stupefy innocents like my pal EM, and to further their self-interested myopic and destructive agenda.

I do hope this series helps show some folks out there see how easy it is to confront the nonsense being put out there. The internet is being flooded with astroturfed malicious liars, we need more grassroots involvement to confront these lies with facts and arguments.

Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: There are two studies showing that in the next 50 or 70 years in summertime it will be completely gone. Now you might say, “Why is that a problem? How could the arctic ice cap actually melt so quickly?” When the sun’s rays hit the ice, more than 90 percent of it bounces off right back into space like a mirror. But when it hits the open ocean more than 90 percent is absorbed.

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Here the SPPI clowns toss in a meaningless gratuitous remark. When I was a kid we had a solid North Pole Ice Cap, it reflected the sun’s radiation like a mirror. Now increasing areas of that mirror are being converted to solar heat collectors. This is an example of a positive feedback with cascading consequences.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at more than twice the global average rate. As the sea ice cover retreats, there is a radiation imbalance and a modification of the Arctic Ocean circulation, and as the atmosphere and ocean come into direct contact, exchanges of heat and momentum will potentially be transformed. Dr Michel Tsamados will discuss the implications for the Arctic climate system and beyond.

As we go along, please notice how all their one liners turn out to be garbage diversions. Stuff that highlights SPPI’s dedication to spreading confusion and stupidity, which leads to mindless denial of the gullible such as my pal EM.

Arctic sea ice this summer shrank to its second lowest level since scientists started to monitor it by satellite, with scientists saying it is another ominous signal of global warming.

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18. Arctic “warming fastest”

Close enough match

It’s actually 1 degree cooler now than in 1940.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: As the surrounding water gets warmer, it speeds up the melting of the ice. Right now the arctic ice cap acts like a giant mirror. All the sun’s rays bounce off, more than 90 percent, to keep the earth cooler. But as it melts and the open ocean receives that sun’s energy instead more than 90 percent is absorbed. So there is a faster build up of heat here at the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic generally than any where else on the planet.

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Here the SPPI clowns display another childish trick, cherry picking some obscure figure from somewhere at some time, misinterpreting the selected outlier while ignoring the prevailing trends and averages. It’s like claiming the North Pole is 50°F warmer than in 1950 because it actually was 50° warmer for a couple days this past Christmas, so much for no warming.

Data from the buoy (No. 300234064010010, which can be downloaded here) show that air temperatures have risen more than 40 degrees in the past two days, when they hovered near minus-11 degrees (minus-24 Celsius) which, even then, was above average.

… Average annual air temperatures over Arctic land areas were the highest in the observational record during the year ending in September 2016, with a 3.5-degree Celsius, or 6.3 degree Fahrenheit, increase compared to 1900. Record monthly highs were set in January, February, October and November. …

… Winter air temperatures set a new record overall, with some areas seeing air temperature anomalies of 8 degrees Celsius, or 14.4 degrees Fahrenheit, above average, the report found. …

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19. Greenland ice sheet “unstable”

> “unstable” cannot be found <

The ice sheet did not break up during the last three times when the temperature was 5 degrees hotter than today.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: A friend of mine has just brought back some pictures of what’s going on in Greenland right now. Dramatic changes. These are the same kinds of pools that formed here, on this ice shelf in Antarctica. And the scientists thought that when that water seeped back into the ice, it would just refreeze. But they found out that actually what happens is that it just keeps on going, It tunnels to the bottom and makes the ice like Swiss cheese, sort of like termites. This shows what happens to the crevasses, and when lakes form, they create what are called moulins. The water goes down to the bottom and it lubricates where the ice meets the bedrock.

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Of course, the SPPI clowns try to distort perspective at every opportunity. Given that Greenland holds around 24 feet worth of sea level, even 10% breakup would be catastrophic to our coastal cities. As for past warm periods, check it out:

Peering into the thousands of frozen layers inside Greenland’s ice sheet is like looking back in time. Each layer provides a record of not only snowfall and melting events, but what the Earth’s climate was like at the dawn of civilization, or during the last ice age, or during an ancient period of warmth similar to the one we are experiencing today. Using radar data from NASA’s Operation IceBridge, scientists have built the first-ever comprehensive map of the layers deep inside the ice sheet.

NASA observations show the dynamism of Greenland's Ice sheet in the changing elevation of its surfaces. Recent analysis of seven years of readings from NASA's ICESat satellite and four years of laser and and ice-penetrating radar data from NASA's airborne mission Operation IceBridge shows the changes taking place.

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20. Himalayan glacial melt waters “failing”

> “failing” cannot be found <The snow melt which provides water has not decreased in 40 years.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: In the Himalayas there is a particular problem because 40% of all the people in the world get their drinking water from rivers and spring systems that are fed more than half by the melt water coming off the glaciers. Within this next half century those 40% of the people on Earth are going to face a very serious shortage because of this melting.

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Another sneaky gotcha over here. Since glaciers are melting at increasing speed, river levels are up. The irreparable crises hits when the glaciers disappear and the year around river flow stops.

Melting Himalayas (2009): The consequences of glacial melt in the Himalayas could be disastrous.

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21. Peruvian glaciers “disappearing”

> “disappearing” cannot be found <

For the past 10,000 years the Peruvian ‘glacier’ region has been mostly ice free.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: And now we’re beginning to see the impact in the real world. …

…It’s also true in South America. This is Peru 15 years ago. The same glacier today.

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Compared to the last ice age, of course today’s remaining glaciers are mere remnants. What SPPI leaves out is that a climate plateau was reached ±8,000 years ago and the glaciers have remained relatively stable, fluctuating up and down by increments, still remaining in a relatively steady state, as the sea level plateau of the same period demonstrates.

In Search of Lost Time: Ancient Eclipses, Roman Fish Tanks and the Enigma of Global Sea Level Rise

What do ancient eclipse records kept by Babylonian, Chinese, Arabic and Greek

scholars, and fish tanks, built by wealthy Romans during100BC-100AD, contribute to our understanding of modern climate change? Dr. Jerry X. Mitrovica will describe the important role these archaeological treasures have played in the understanding of sea-level rise and how they help scientists both "fingerprint" sources of recent sea level changes and make more accurate projections of future sea levels.

Scientists are issuing fresh warnings about the rate at which Peru's glaciers are retreating due to global warming.

According to government studies, Peruvian glaciers have shrunk by 40 percent in the past four decades and the melt-off has spawned hundreds of new, small, high-altitude lakes.

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22. Mountain glaciers worldwide “disappearing”

> “disappearing” cannot be found <

Human CO2 output has had no effect on the already-present glacier shortening trend.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth:

• This is happening in Glacier National Park. I climbed to the top of this in 1998 with one of my daughters. Within 15 years this will be the park formerly known as Glacier.

• Here is what has been happening year by year to

the Columbia Glacier. It just retreats more and more every year. And it is a shame because these glaciers are so beautiful. People who go up to see them, here is what they are seeing every day now.

• In the Himalayas there is a particular problem because more than 40% of all the people in the world get their drinking water from rivers and spring systems that are fed more than half by the melt water coming off the glaciers. Within this next half century those 40% of the people on earth are going to face a very serious shortage because of this melting.

• Italy, the Italian Alps same site today. An old postcard from the Switzerland: throughout the Alps we are seeing the same story.

• It’s also true in South America. This is Peru 15 years ago and the same glacier today.

• This is Argentina 20 years ago, the same glacier today.

• 75 years ago in Patagonia on the tip of South America, this vast expanse of

ice is now gone.

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The SPPI clowns are talking smack again, we are witnessing the impacts unfolding before our eyes! Only the faith blinded can miss it. Also notice how they stay away from looking at Gore’s actual claims. Bet you can’t find any errors in his above statement.

As for that increasing CO2 which acts to increase our atmosphere’s insulation - that is absolutely 100% settled science. Take a look: “CO2 Science - Why We Can Be Sure.”

Our increasing insulation in turn causes increasing warming of our global heat and moisture distribution engine. Glaciers have been relatively stable for ±8,000 years. Only an extreme warning can produce the melting evidence we are observing - it puts a lie to SPPI’s delusional assertions.

For thousands of years, sea level has remained relatively stable and human communities have settled along the planet's coastlines. But now Earth's seas are rising. Globally, sea level has risen about eight inches (20 centimeters) since the beginning of the 20th century and more than two inches (5 centimeters) in the last 20 years alone.

In the past 25 years, the Sahara shrunk by 300,000 square kilometres due to increased rainfall.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: One of the reasons for this has to do with the fact that global warming not only increases precipitation worldwide, but it also relocates the precipitation. Focus most of all on this part of Africa just on the edge of the Sahara. Unbelievable tragedies have been unfolding there and there are a lot reasons for it. Darfur and Niger are among those tragedies. One of the factors that has been compounding this is the lack of rainfall and the increasing drought.

… The second reason why this is a paradox: Global warming creates more evaporation off of the oceans to seeds the clouds, but it sucks moisture out of the soil. Soil evaporation increases dramatically with higher temperatures. And that has consequences for us in the United States, as well.

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He didn't not say the whole of the Sahara was drying! He was talking about what actual happened in the Sudan region.

Conflict and drought are working in tandem to leave more than 23 million people food insecure in West Africa. Yet again, there are concerns that the region is on the brink of crisis. And predictions of an El Niño year could make matters worse.

“All signs are pointing to another challenging year for farmers and pastoralists in the Sahel who are trying to meet their minimum basic needs for their families,” says Bahram Amintorabi, disaster management coordinator, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Sahel region, in a release.

The Darfur region consists of a number of climatic zones. The southern part lies within the rich savanna, which receives considerable rainfall. The central part is a plateau where the mountain of Jebel Marra dominates the landscape. The northern part of Darfur is a desert that extends all the way to the Egyptian and Libyan borders.

Crop farming is the main economic activity of the majority of the population. Cultivation depends heavily on rainfall and land fertility, rendering the population vulnerable to climatic changes and natural disasters. Particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, drought, desertification, and population growth combined to produce a sharp decline in food production and with it widespread famine. …

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Environmental degradation and conflict in Darfur: implications for peace and recovery

The conflict in Darfur has greatly accelerated the processes of environmental degradation that have been undermining subsistence livelihoods in the area over recent decades. The implication of this is that environmental drivers of conflict have worsened as a result of the current crisis. An understanding of the physical and social processes involved must inform humanitarian programming, recovery planning and peace processes at local and national level so that this accelerated environmental degradation may be slowed and its impacts mitigated. ( http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6049 )

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As for the Sahara as a whole greening, What they don’t tell you is that it’s due to global warming shifting atmospheric circulation patterns and the rain storms they carry with them. Cascading consequences and all that.

… For instance, in 2005 a team led by Reindert Haarsma of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in De Bilt, the Netherlands, forecast significantly more future rainfall in the Sahel.

The study in Geophysical Research Letters predicted that rainfall in the July to September wet season would rise by up to two millimeters a day by 2080. Satellite data shows "that indeed during the last decade, the Sahel is becoming more green," Haarsma said. …

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24. West Antarctic ice sheet “unstable”

> “unstable” cannot be found in the documentary transcript <

Antarctic ice is at its thickest in nearly 28 years.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: This brings me to the second canary in the coal mine, Antarctica, the largest mass of ice on the planet by far. A friend of mine said in 1978, “If you see the break up of ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula, watch out, because that should be seen as an alarm bell for global warming.

If you look at the peninsula up close, every place where you see one of these green blotches is an ice shelf larger than the state of Rhode Island that has broken up in just the last 15 to 20 years. …

Larson B…The scientists who study these ice shelves were absolutely astonished when they were looking at these images. Starting in January 31, 2002, in a period of 35 days, this ice shelf completely disappeared.

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Compete nonsense yet again. Observations make plain that Antartica most certainly is starting to break up in an epochal manner, the place is huge so the pace shall be glacial, yet scientists are amazed, and worried, by the pace of warming induced changes.

It's true seasonal sea ice extent was growing. Big deal, meaningless against the backdrop of millennia old glacial ice, such as that Larson B ice shelf and now Larson C who’s collapse seems imminent - among others. Not just along the West Peninsula but also on the East Antarctic Continental massif.

Eastern Antarctica, and in particular the enormous Totten Glacier, has escaped much public awareness. This video points to similarities between glacier melt in eastern and western Antarctica, as scientists explore a potentially concerning future for the vast glacier.

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25. Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves “breaking up”

> “breaking up” cannot be found <

Gore concentrates on the 2% of Antarctica that is experiencing some warming, while conciously neglecting to mention the 98% of Antarctica that is cooling.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: “Starting on January 31, 2002, in a period of 35 days, this ice shelf completely disappeared. They could not figure out how in the world this happened so rapidly. They went back to figure out where they had gone wrong. That’s when they focused on those pools of melting water. Even before they could figure out what had happened there, something else started going wrong. When the floating sea-based ice cracked up, it no longer held back the ice on the land. The land-based ice then started falling into the ocean. It was like letting the cork out of a bottle.”

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Another example of SPPI’s unmitigated lunacy, all studies show Antarctica warming.

Perhaps not as fast as the rest of the world, but then we have the Ozone Hole to thank for that, since it reduces that region’s atmospheric insulation, thus allowing more heat to escape into space.

The hole in Earth’s ozone layer that forms over Antarctica each September grew to about 8.9 million square miles in 2016 before starting to recover, according to scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who monitor the annual phenomenon.

> Gore did not say that <The ice shelfs have been breaking up since 10,000 years ago.

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Quoting Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: From here to the mountains is about 20 to 25 miles. They thought this would be stable for at least a hundred years, even with global warming. The scientists who study these ice shelves were absolutely astonished when they were looking at these images.

Starting on January 31, 2002, in a period of 35 days, this ice shelf completely disappeared. They could not figure out how in the world this happened so rapidly. They went back to figure out where they had gone wrong. That’s when they focused on those pools of melting water. Even before they could figure out what had happened there, something else started going wrong. When the floating sea-based ice cracked up, it no longer held back the ice on the land. The land-based ice then started falling into the ocean. It was like letting the cork out of a bottle.

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Sure, they were breaking up even before that, take a look at the sea level graph above - yet, that does not change the fact that they had been relatively stable for the past 8,000 years.

This series of images, taken between 31 January and 13 April, 2002, captured the collapse of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf. Scientists monitoring daily satellite images of the Antarctic Peninsula watched almost the entire ice shelf splinter and collapse. They had never witnessed such a large area—1250 square miles (~3237 square kilometers)—disintegrate so rapidly. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

An iceberg expected to be one of the 10 largest ever recorded is ready to break away from Antarctica, scientists say. A long-running rift in the Larsen C ice shelf grew suddenly in December and now just 20km of ice is keeping the 5,000 sq km piece from floating away. Larsen C is the most northern major ice shelf in Antarctica. Researchers based in Swansea say the loss of a piece a quarter of the size of Wales will leave the whole shelf vulnerable to future break-up. Larsen C is about 350m thick and floats on the seas at the edge of West Antarctica, holding back the flow of glaciers that feed into it.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

11/29/2016 I started this blog to debate climate science contrarians, I've done my part, they, the intellectual cowards for their part have run off and hide within their hermetically sealed echo chambers, safe to continue broadcasting more stupidity mixed with anger and hostility rather than constructive learning.

Now this horrendous election. Its changed everything and this blog, not sure where it's going, eventually I need to start another one, one less intent on futility reaching out for what ain't there and more focused on presenting a different perspective for its own sake, and to hell with the rest of it, it's too heart breaking.

I see Dec 19th as a key date. If there isn't serious focused engagement of the public in numbers that surprise everyone, well the oligarch will have their way with us.

Americans need to let Trump know from the gitgo, we do not approve of his con job and he better not get too crazy because he's earned zero good faith or honeymoon considerations. We shall see.

{edited 12/11/2014}

I know there are too many typos, what can I say, eyes aren't what they were, I get rushed, and always did have a thing with transposing…{well, I also hated high school "english" classes... bad call that one.}. Doing the best I can with what I got. Embarrassing though it is, it's better than doing nothing. Besides, it's the issues and reasoning that we should be worrying about.

Though I'm in my own little world here, I'm also constantly learning and evolving and do get occasional feedback and when I reread stuff and find errors or omissions or garbage, I fix it. If it's major I'll acknowledge it with an 'edited' note, minor stuff I don't bother.

~ ~ ~

I hardly keep track of Anthony's latest antics (besides, with Sou on the job why bother - can't beat her insights). It's just me over here and I have more important things to do with my precious hours - still now that Anthony's luster has been wearing thin he's put his energy into discovering and honing new fresh faces to carry on the public show of the Republican/Libertarian strategic attack on science.

He seems to have transitioned into a ring-leader, perhaps mentor/coach would be better, producer? At least that's how Mr. Steele and his antics of the past year has gotten me to think about it. So in that regard this blog remains about WUWT's brand of thinking and logic and my struggle to understand the anatomy of the fraud they've perpetrated against mankind. {December 2014}

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ok, now some recommended websites:

This blog was started in April 2013 and is written by an actual scientist so it has a refreshingly serious objective air to it, plus he does a good clear job of explaining complex issues.

Tamino, an acknowledged statistical/mathematical expert of the highest order, at Open Mind also does an excellent job of holding Anthony’s feet to the fire with clearly explained facts and math. Check it out:http://tamino.wordpress.com~ ~ ~

And of course, there is the excellent, most up to date internet depository of climate studies and information for the non-expert public.

Then there's RealClimate.org the scientist's commentary site. Run by working climate scientists intended to help the interested public and journalists sort through the complexities of the climatology. They provide "quick response to developing stories and provide the context" that is too often missing from public media's depiction. {But, you better be serious and have some real science education/understanding under your belt if you want to keep up.}

I remember back in da day, good websites/blogs were few and far between. But over the past years that's been changing to the point that it's impossible to keep up with them all. Here's an incomplete, and long overdue addition to my above list: